See that? That's the sign that awoke yours truly this morning. And that just happens to be confirmation that the long-awaited Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) update is finally coming to unlocked (read: global, non-carrier branded) Galaxy S II smartphones situated in the United States. If you'll recall, said update started flowing to units in South Korea (among other locales) eons ago, but owners located in the US of A haven't been treated equally... until today. Head on into Settings and check for an update -- seeing anything intriguing?

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Recent apps, home screen, and Face Unlock with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.
(Credit:Screenshot by Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)
The apps launcher looks essentially the same as Gingerbread's, though it has a slightly different layout and a fancy graphical transition as you swipe horizontally through your apps. I really like that the Market app is persistently accessible on the top of the screen, and that the app launcher has expanded to include widgets. However, the "tiled look" for widgets that Google proudly showed off at the Ice Cream Sandwich launch event looks cluttered and confusing.
Screenshots
If you like this screenshot tour of Ice Cream Sandwich, you can thank, well, Ice Cream Sandwich, and its new native screenshot capability in particular. Late to the game compared with Apple's iOS (and even some Android phones, like the Samsung Galaxy S II), the feature is nevertheless a boon for app developers, for us journalist types, and for anyone who wants to diagnose an error or save a snap of a game for bragging rights.
The trick is pressing the hardware combination of the volume-down button and power button in the right way to trigger the native screenshot tool. Unfortunately, it took time to get a feel for it on the Galaxy Nexus. The action was awkward, and not always successful, especially at first. The ease of snapping screenshots will vary by a handset's individual proportions.
Cameras and video
The panorama feature in the Ice Cream Sandwich camera was one of the first secrets to leak. Several Android-bearing phones have seen the feature before, but only as an addition to a Samsung or HTC camera, never as a blood-and-bones part of Android. Now, Google has made it front and center, one of your three camera "mode" choices, in addition to the standard camera and video.

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Google has up to date the Android.com web site to incorporate details in regards to the new working system Android 4.0. The new OS is named Ice Cream Sandwich and was released yesterday when the Samsung Galaxy Nexus launched.

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Alcatel One Touch, best known for Android phones that'll give your bank balance a mere glancing blow, is purportedly going big. New Mobile managed to get its hands on the One Touch 995, which will apparently be decked out with a 1.4GHz processor and a gratifying 4.3-inch touchscreen to show off the latest version of Gingerbread. Alcatel has managed to cocoon all this, alongside a five megapixel shooter, into a shell apparently "less than a centimeter thick." What really caught our attention, however, is the apparent promise from the company that Ice Cream Sandwich will be making an appearance on the handset. We're still waiting for the official word from Alcatel, but the phone is expected to be unveiled at Mobile World Congress 2012, with a very tempting €200 ($276) price tag -- a nice price for a large screen Android handset. See more of the One Touch 995 hardware at the source link below.

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We list the date of the SDK release rather than the over-the-air (OTA) update timeline since OTA release dates vary by carrier and handset model.
Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0)
Gone are the tiny incremental changes we saw from Froyo to Gingerbread. Ice Cream Sandwich heralds a dramatic, bold new Android. Despite its cutesy name, Ice Cream Sandwich is all about strong lines, sharp corners, and darker colors. Google is even switching up the type face to one called Roboto, which is intended to be clearer, crisper, and easier to read.
Here's a list of the main new features, but our hands-on impressions go much deeper.
Virtual buttons in the user experience free up display space.Create folders by dragging apps on top of each other.There's a new tab for thumbing through your widgets.Calendar app now supports pinch-to-zoom.Gmail gets offline search (nice), a two-line preview, and gesture support for swiping between conversations.The revamped Gmail user interface has an action bar for composing a message, searching, and accessing labels.Take screenshots by holding power and volume down buttons (finally!)."Request desktop site" in the Chrome browser opens the full version of a Web site and syncs with your bookmarks.Save Web pages offline and use up to 16 tabs in the browser.More keyboard error correction and an inline spell check.Access apps directly from the lock screen.A recent applications icon."Roboto" is a new typeface.Delete individual notifications by dragging them off the notifications menuImproved voice integration and copy and paste.Face Unlock is a facial recognition service that use your face to unlock the phone.New Data Usage options in the Settings menu will notify users when they near a data use limit and disable the feature when the limit is reached.You can kill off apps that are using data in the background.Open the camera quickly from the home screen.Camera has no shutter lag, continuous focus, zoom while recording, panorama photos, time-lapse settings, and 1080p recording.Face detection in the camera.Integrated photo editor, including focus and exposure and "hipster filters" (we don't want to know).New gallery layout, organized by location and person.People app brings together high-res photos, social media information, and status updates.Phone app lets you swipe between favorite friends with integrated visual voice mail.New photo gallery layout for organizing by location and person.Speed up and slow down voice mails.Quick message sends canned response text message when you decline a call.Android Beam, an NFC feature for exchanging information between two phones by tapping them.
Jelly Bean
Just about the only thing we know about the release to follow Ice Cream Sandwich is that it might be called Jelly Bean, and even that remains unconfirmed. The best we get is the tantalizing promise from a third-party's source that Jelly Bean will contain some "game-changing stuff," in addition to features that weren't finished in time for Ice Cream Sandwich.
Watch out, Apple. It's getting to be a Google World.
Editors' note: This article was originally published August 4, 2010. It was updated February 7, February 15, September 20, and November 2, 2011.

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